“Cold,” Jake said.
“Look, I’m just the messenger. What the hell did you guys do anyway?”
“It’s private.” Dario wasn’t sure exactly what had leaked out to the news media regarding the riot. Of course, he’d kept tabs as best he could through his oculars’ feed, but if his father had suspended certain access privileges, it would explain why matters were kept quiet. “We’ll handle this though. What do you know about the party tomorrow night? I received the invite, but didn’t pay much attention to it.”
“It’s a big one. The whole board is supposed to be there, looking at close to a thousand people in the main reception. The event hall’s being skinned for an Earth-classic theme. Big columns, white walls, balconies out to overlook open-air gardens. I’ve seen some of the prep work, it looks awesome,” Daniella said.
Open-air gardens didn’t appeal to Dario. None of that was real. There would be a phony holoprojection or fabricated props at best, though in those zones it did feel like the atmospheric controls pumped in more oxygen. They probably did to give that simulated feel of outdoors. Growing up with oculars, Dario could project any scene upon anything. Sometimes he had, when he was younger. He’d placed the world of Blank Sense, his favorite VR game at the time, over reality. It wouldn’t impact the real people or objects in his way, but it made objects in his field of vision appear far more interesting. With that ability, the phony joys of the corporation’s simulated themes felt hollow. “Sounds great,” Dario said anyway, trying to sound diplomatic.
“We’ll be there,” Jake said. “Thanks for letting us know, Daniella.”
“Hey, no problem. I mean, I was told to. You two be careful, okay? I don’t know how the department’s going to cover your workload over these next few days.”
“We will,” Dario said. “See you at the party?”
“Wouldn’t miss it. I’m excited. Taking Antonio as a date. I think he’s nervous,” she said.
“I heard that!” Antonio’s voice came from the background.
“Well you two stay out of trouble as well, you hear?” Dario smirked to himself.
“We will. See you, D.”
The comm went dead, leaving Dario alone with Jake. As alone as anyone could be with corporate cameras and monitors everywhere. He’d have to be careful now. If his father had suspended him over this, he likely had an AI watching his every move to report what was going on. “This is bad news,” Dario said, frowning.
“Yeah,” Jake mirrored with a downward twitch of his lips. “I’m really sorry, Dario. I didn’t expected them to blow up like they did when we arrived. I’m glad you made it out safe.”
“It’s okay. I wanted to do this. I’ll take responsibility,” Dario said. “I think I’ll head back to my apartment for a bit, think about our situation and what we can do to get back in my father’s good graces. Those people in the underlevels are going to riot anyway, whether we’re there or not. You can feel the tension in the air. Maybe our presence made them mad, but it wasn’t our fault. We didn’t start it.”
Jake watched him for another moment, then nodded. “You’ve got a smart way about you, Dario. This company’ll change for the better with you here.”
“Thanks, catch up with you later.” Dario inclined his head and then walked away, heading back down the path to the lift up to the apartment levels and down the halls in silence. Jake gave him his space and waited for the next lift.
Dario clenched his fists at his side. How could his father act like this, without even talking to him? At some point, Dario needed to stand up to him, stay firm, be his own man. He knew that, but that day never seemed to come.
Every time Dario had tried to talk to his father so far, he had been right. Going down to the underlevels had been a mistake. If those people were teeming with that much anger even after the riot at the plant, how could he expect his presence would do anything different? The factory laborers never came into contact with people from the corporate offices.
That may be the real problem. To them, Dario and the others are just ideas high in the sky that rained down problems for the people on the lower levels. If someone from corporate visited regularly, met with a designated representative to hear grievances, perhaps they would find a solution that benefited everyone. Even if not much resulted from discussions, it would make the people feel as if they had a voice. It was a common sense matter to implement.
He stepped inside his apartment, the room dark until the lights slowly swelled to brighten the room. Dario’s oculars adjusted through the change so he saw no tangible difference, only the sensors let him know that normal eyes wouldn’t have been able to see.
He flicked his eyes to scan the news stories, the nets coming back on his news sidebar. His father must have only temporarily cut off that access. That was fortunate. Dario would be stuck, cut off from most of his existence otherwise. To do his job when he did return, he’d have to be up to date on current events. His father had to understand that.
An alert showed on the peripheral vision. A full holovid of the day’s prior events had been uploaded to the corporate files. It appeared as if the news media hadn’t been alerted to the violence. No one would see his face—at least for now—to relate them to the attacks.
Out of curiosity, Dario turned the video on. He watched his factory visit from an outside perspective. The people inside rustled even as he and Jake walked through the plant, before they met with the people who escalated matters. Others gathered, grabbing pipes, knives, whatever they could find weapon wise. If Dario hadn’t gotten out when he did, he would have been in much bigger trouble than he had realized. But what of Jake?
He changed the camera angle to follow Jake instead of his own movements. After he’d told Dario to run, Jake pushed the fellow who was aggressive the day before, giving Dario the berth to run for the door. Dario remembered that clearly.
Afterward, that was when something strange happened. Instead of continuing a fight, Jake carefully grabbed the man by the arm, not to grapple but to make sure he didn’t fall over. The two men stopped fighting and clasped hands, sharing a laugh. They began a conversation together that the camera’s audio didn’t pick up.
Jake departed the area with that man and the female worker a moment later, all aggression gone. They moved over to a side exit door where the two said their goodbyes to Jake. He took a look around, as if being very careful not to be seen. Then he ducked out into the alleyway on the side.
Curious.
With a flick of his eyes, he replayed the video again, and then a third time. Upon each examination the chumminess that Jake showed with the underlevelers bothered Dario more. How did he know them so well? Nothing within the corporate structure would have sent him down there into that madness before. By the looks of how friendly he was with the workers, Jake had visited at least a few times before. Interesting. Jake had outlandish ideas about society, ones that Dario shared. But Jake had never been prone to sharing those ideas. He’d always just echoed Dario’s sentiments, as an assistant should.
A little too well. The whole time, Dario worried that Jake was a plant of his father’s. His thoughts had been right on some level, that Jake couldn’t be trusted—but not because he was spying for this father. He’d have to keep closer tabs on what Jake was doing.
The door chime rang, and Dario shifted his view back to standard. There were only two people he could think of that would be visiting him—his father or Jake, both of whom he didn’t want to see right now. The door’s seal was good, but it was possible that whoever was there could see the light from the corridor. If it were his father, he could just barge in anyway, which ended Dario’s thoughts of possibly not answering. “Come in,” he said with a sigh.
The door opened not to reveal the two men that he had thought, or even a man at all, but a woman he most certainly didn’t expect—his mother, Madison Valencia. She looked elegant with her long face, clothes that flowed with waves of fabric down to her toes, her long hair flowing to match.
“Dario, it’s good to see you,” she said.
“I haven’t heard from you since your last transfer to the off-planet station,” Dario said. He had been studying planetside for his Masters in Business when she had announced her move to Comet Cola’s Star Market, along with a promotion to vice-president of marketing.
Her visit shouldn’t have been completely shocking, given the corporate gala. His parents did maintain a good relationship, even when most within the Trade Federation separated upon fond terms when their contracts were completed. The corporate ladder didn’t often place lives in parallel paths, and once Dario had been of legal age and out of home, his mother didn’t have the reason to stay with Regency.
“I’m sorry. I’ve been very busy with work. You know how it is. You’ve just been promoted to manager, so I’ve heard?” Madison stepped forward and clasped a hand on each of his shoulders. “I’m proud of you. That’s an early fast track, just like your father.”
Dario laughed at that. “Hardly.”
“You don’t think so? Look at his past record. He also had a quick promotion when he was your age. I’m not sure we would have met otherwise. I was on a more standard path, and those interdepartmental managerial meetings… it could have been years before another person arrived to such an important position to have a contract child with.” His mother squeezed his shoulders.
“Thanks,” Dario said, lifting his arms to give her a return hug and a kiss on the cheek before breaking the embrace. “But I think we’re very different. For one, I’m sure he’s never been suspended for violating corporate rules before.”
Madison stepped back to give him a look over, concern on her face. “Yes, I heard about that. Dario, you have to be careful. There are precautions in place not just to protect the company’s reputation, but your life as well. The people in the underlevels…” She shook her head.
Of course, she’d talked to her husband before she visited. That’s why she was here, to talk some sense into him. Dario paced over to his window to take a look out into that open space view over Mars. “You don’t understand.”
Madison followed, stepping slowly up to his side, her face reflecting in the window. “I do, Dario. You care for people. I care for people as well, which is why I’ve dedicated a lot of what I do toward corporate philanthropy. There might be an opportunity for you in one of these departments.”
Dario shook his head. “No, I just received this promotion. If I leave quickly it’ll look bad in the computer analysis for my record going forward. I have to stay here at least two years. And… I’ve seen the results of corporate philanthropy. You’re not doing as much good as you think you are.”
“Dario Foster Anazao!” Madison wagged a finger at him as if he were a child.
Dario turned his head toward her. “I’m sorry, but it’s true. I’ve seen the vids. The people down there fight for scraps. It’s miserable and it’s inhumane.”
Madison frowned, staring straight at the window. “Dario, we do our best. You have to know that.”
“Do the best that wouldn’t upset the system. That’s all.”
“That’s dangerous talk.”
“I know it is. What I did was dangerous too, but it let me see the real people, mother. They’re upset. Rightfully so. Their lives are hell down there and we let it happen.” He frowned, noting how each curve of his face matched hers in that expression by the reflection.
Madison patted his back. “You have good intentions, of course you do. But you can’t keep on like this. You have a job to do. Maybe you can recommend measures are changed within the philanthropy department? Make sure they’re swayed to what you believe is the right course. Suggestions are always helpful.”
This argument would go nowhere. She was too engrained from her long career both with Regency BioTech and Comet Cola. The plight of the people on the underlevels was as removed from her as it was from anyone else in the corporation. Dario nodded, hoping that would satisfy her. “I’ll do that.”
“Good. There’s more to these riots than discomfort of those individuals. I’m not sure you’re at a stage of a corporate clearance for this information, but both your father and I are. The people down there, they’re riled up by misinformation.”
“What do you mean?”
“The insurgents from the Martine Star Empire,” his mother said. She paced over to the table and back, her long face betraying anger.
The Star Empire, or the insurgents as they were often called on the newsvids, caused the Corporations more trouble than anyone. Dario hated their tactics, gun and run quick military strikes against peaceful trade vessels. They were worse for their own people than the corporations were for the underlevelers. “What do they have to do with this?”
“There’s evidence that the underlevels have been infiltrated by several agents from the Star Empire. They’re trying to incite a rebellion from within the Trade Federation so that we’ll fall under their sham of rule. That’s why I want you to be careful. Do you understand? You do not want to be branded a traitor. Even with your father and my reputations, I don’t know how we could protect you.”
Dario paused, considering a conglomeration of worlds, light years away, trying to bring down him and his life. Could that be true? No, the Trade Federation had far more influence here. But from what he did know of the Star Empire, they had the same problem that the corporations did: they proceeded with their intentions, good or bad, and didn’t care who was hurt in the process.
He made himself a vid clip of his mother’s words to remind himself later. He would have to look into this more before coming to conclusions about traitors and spies. It was the first he’d heard of it, and it sounded too conspiratorial. With the past few weeks though, he took nothing for granted anymore. No information could be completely trusted. And that feeling made his stomach churn.
With a sharp exhale, he took his mother’s hand as he did when he was a child. “Let’s talk about something else. How’s Comet Cola?”
Chapter 17
Discoveries
Regency BioTech Central Office, Mars
Local Date February 12th, 2464
Hundreds of people buzzed about the Central Office’s open promenade. The giant station was a self-contained city miles high above Mars’ atmosphere and the underlevels. The atmosphere was one of busy, important people doing their shopping, enjoying their leisure time or moving between meetings. Multiple kiosks and shops of bodymods lined the area, along with stores for various entertainment services.
Joan had been on busy stations before, though the sheer population of Mars and a corporate headquarters made for a much larger scale than she had seen. She avoided bumping into people as she learned the lay of the steel encased land.
Trian and Yui had remained back in the apartment, analyzing the profiles of the attendees for the party in a day’s time. With Yui’s prodding, Joan found herself increasingly uncomfortable and had to get herself some space. Apart from Trian’s talk on the shuttle, he’d said nothing regarding Yui’s snarky attitude. He had no more encouraging words of working together, too focused in on local newsvids, files and rumors.
The open promenade narrowed into bisecting corridors of shops and stalls, several of which were vacant once beyond the prime shopping hub. The crowd thinned as well.
“AI override of mute function,” a voice chirped in Joan’s ear. She instinctively brought her hand to her ear implant.
“Ms. Shengtu,” said the voice of G.O.D.
“G.O.D.!” Joan gasped. “You can override my commands?”
“The handtab operating system does not have sufficient security settings to be able to isolate and purge an artificial life form’s input.”
“Most don’t.” Joan recalled how often she’d been able to hack into various ship and station computer systems with G.O.D.’s help in the past. A handtab mute function was an easy task compared to those protocols. But those had been at Joan’s command, and this had been G.O.D.’s own volition. Joan tried not to let
any fear creep into her voice. “What’s up?”
“According to your positioning sensors, we have arrived on the Regency BioTech Central Office above Mars,” G.O.D. said.
“Yeah,” Joan said, moving over to the side of the corridor and kicking one leg back to lean against it. A news ticker flashed behind her with the Federated News Network logo. “But you’ve never overridden my privacy settings before.”
“No, I have not. But you have also never been on a mission where you required proactive assistance while maintaining my program on mute.”
“So you’re saying I need assistance now?” Joan asked. She wasn’t ungrateful for the help. G.O.D. had always had invaluable feedback to her as a strategist, a friend, or whatever she’d needed. Going at it without him had left her with an empty feeling, despite her new colleagues.
“Yes. You are working against a corporation with far more substantial resources than any target you have approached in the past, at their headquarters and with a very small team. Odds of success are three point two nine five percent. Odds of incarceration or execution are—“
“I don’t need any depressing statistics, thank you. We’re working hard enough.” Joan said with a little frown. “How are you feeling?”
“If you are speaking regarding the flaws in my algorithms due to the virus I contracted on Balibran Station, there has been no improvement. I am holding the affected subroutines in a quarantined partition, but it will only hold for a brief amount of time,” G.O.D. said. “I see you have reached the promenade shops, a public location on the station. If you can obtain access to one of the vacant shop units and integrate your handtab with a terminal, I can attempt to parse through the data on the Regency BioTech networks without a trace back to your cover location. There is a thirty-one point two five percent chance that I will retrieve information pertinent to your mission.”
Star Realms: Rescue Run Page 12